There wasn’t a big show or keynote when announcing Apple’s new MacBook Air with the M3 processor, and when Apple surrounds its announcement with little fanfare, you know it’s a minor upgrade. However, enough has changed, because Apple has adjusted the lineup and reduced the prices of the MacBook Air. In this review you can read what has changed and of course I will see how the M3 performs in the new MacBook Air.

MacBook Air

The M3 processor is the most significant change in the MacBook Air. Apple sent out two versions of the new M3-Air: the 13.6-inch model and the 15.3-inch model, and when you take them out of the box you won’t see any difference compared to the M2-Air. Apple was clearly very satisfied with the design of the MacBook Air M2 and you can’t expect any major changes in reality. Apple often continues to use the same architecture for a long time. The most obvious example is the 2016 model of the MacBook Pro 13.3″, which got a 6th generation Intel processor at launch. The same chassis, minus the offending butterfly keyboard, was used until mid-2023, in the final version with Apple’s own M2 processor.

In short, Apple likes to design a case once and use it for years: beautiful and functional. The chassis of the MacBook Air M3 doesn’t look old even after two years. The body is made of aluminum and gives a sturdy and solid impression. There’s no way you can squeeze the case easily, and the large and small versions give you the feeling of being made entirely from a single piece of metal. Of course it’s not, since there’s a removable panel at the bottom, but the seams are barely visible and that’s how finely finished the laptops are.

They are also lightweight laptops. They didn’t set any records, but 1.24kg for the 13.6-inch model and just over 1.5kg for the 15.3-inch model isn’t crazy at all. Laptops are also equipped with com. magickeyboard, which has a power button with a fingerprint scanner at the top right. The keys have a small dimple, so your finger can easily find the middle of the key. The keys don’t have a lot of travel, but the touch feels crisp and the hard shell helps with that. When you press a key, it gets depressed and doesn’t want to move further into the chassis.

Large touchpads also work well, featuring a glass surface and excellently detecting the difference between a finger wanting to move the mouse arrow and the ball of your hand leaning on the touchpad while typing. This is not surprising. Apple has been making these touchpads for years and they are always satisfactory.

This also applies to the speakers, which sound above average for a laptop. It can produce great sound pressure and lower harsh sound than most laptop speakers. There’s also a 1080p camera for video calling, and the MacBook Air M2 also has this camera as one of the upgrades over the MacBook Air M1.

Furthermore, Apple made an interesting change to the MacBook Air which is allowing two external displays. This option is not available on MacBooks with M1 and M2 processors. If you connect more monitors to these laptops, only one monitor will work. This was an artificial limitation, because the same processors in the Mac mini could control two external displays. With the MacBook Air with the M3 processor, Apple suddenly chose to allow two external displays. The condition is that the MacBook screen shuts down. The limit is still two displays, so you can no longer use the internal display. For users who have a dual-screen workplace, this will make the MacBook Air M3 an interesting option.